Label sheet and dispensing board

ABSTRACT

A printed identification label sheet is pattern coated with adhesive, mounted on a backing sheet and pre-cut to form labels, Each label has a tab portion without adhesive that cooperates with elevational differences on the face of a dispensing board. The tabs pop up when a label is pushed down against the board. The labels may be perforated and divisible to assist in recording which labels have been used and how.

Jan. 9,-- 1973 J. E. O'NEIL 3,709,763

LABEL SHEET AND DISPENSING BOARD Filed Nov. 4., 1970 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 15 J5 I DOE AIRLINES ABC JET EES AIRLINES FIE5 INVENTOR.

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2 WINDOW AISLE 58 7 59 wwgw HHHIII J. E. O'NEIL LABEL SHEET AND DISPENSING BOARD COACH RyH L ll

Jan. 9, 1973 Filed Nov. 4. 1970 mmammmmmmcc QQEQUE Fl E12 INVEN TOR. c/o/m/ 5. 0 2/571.

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@Qm m Patented Jan. 9, 1973 3,709,763 LABEL SHEET AND DISPENSING BOARD John E. ONeil, Golden Valley, Minn., assignor to Meyers Printing Company, North Minneapolis, Minn. Continuation-impart of abandoned application Ser. No. 847,128, Aug. 4, 1969. This application Nov. 4, 1970,

Ser. No. 86,719

Int. Cl. B65h 41/00 U.S. Cl. 156-584 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE NOTICE OF RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation-in-part of my prior filed application: Application of John E. ONeil, Ser. No. 847,128, filed Aug. 4, 1969, now abandoned, for Label Sheet and Dispensing Board.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION For a number of years air lines have been marking passenger ticket envelopes with labels that identify a particular seat chosen by the passenger as he presents his ticket at the flight gate. For some time these labels were stapled to the flight envelope. With the advent of larger and larger aircraft, however, stapling proved unsatisfactory. Although no one stapling action takes an appreciable amount of time, in aggregate the stapling of the labels slowed down the progress of the boarding passengers waiting in line to be assigned to a seat to the point that a speedier method of attaching these labels identifying seat assignments to flight envelopes was sought.

It was found that a pressure sensitive adhesive backed label mounted on a peel off backing sheet was better, provided that the label could be removed from the sheet quickly and consistently. The early attempts to achieve this end comprised scoring the label in such a way that, in theory, a portion of the label which did not have adhesive on it would protrude from the sheet. This concept was formalized in a sheet that was pre-scored at the time the labels were die out. It was anticipated that such a sheet could be put on a flat dispensing board and that the tabs would all protrude for easy access. It is even possible that a single sheet cut and scored in this manner and used immediately might function as intended. When sheets are printed and die cut in quantity, stored for a period of time piled one on top of another and then brought out for use, the tabs seldom protrude. In actual use, preconditioning of these sheets is essential.

Furthermore, marking the flight envelope of the passenger is not a complete solution to the problem. Flights across country that stop 'at various cities require that the airline keep a record of what seats have been assigned.

This is, at least, highly desirable to avoid reassigning a seat, in Chicago say, that has already been sold to a previously boarding passenger, in New York perhaps, on a continuing flight to a more distant point, such as Seattle. It has been the practice until now to record what seats have been assigned by pen. 'It has been found that the clerks who are assigning seats sometimes fail to note the information on their records particularly when they are under considerable pressure. As a result, Chicago is not told that seat 49H-right window has already been assigned and it is given to a new passenger to the embarrassment and displeasure of all concerned. It is to the solution of these problems that this invention is directed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention is a label sheet and dispensing board that cooperate to make the labels readily and consistently quickly removable from the sheet without any preparation of the sheet beyond mounting it on the board. In its presently most refined form, the label is divisible to provide automatic record keeping of labels already issued. The sheet is a laminated construction with pressure sensitive adhesive holding the lamination together in a releasable manner well known. The pattern adhesive holding the laminations together in a releasable manner covers only portions of the sheet surrounding the labels and directly under the central portion of the labels. The labels are printed and die cut on the non-adhesive face of the sheet. A portion of the sheet is cut over a non-coated area as well as over a coated area in forming each label. The non-coated portion of the label may be in the form of a specific tab or merely be a portion of the label formation. In either case, it is this uncoated portion which can be easily grasped that is meant whether it is called a tab portion or merely a tab.

As the label is die cut, it may also be perforated to provide a sub-label that is easily separated from the main label once it has been removed from the backing sheet. The sub-label is printed with duplicate indicia as appears on the label and also has adhesive on it.

This sheet is clipped or otherwise secured to a board which has differences in elevation as part of its face or top surface. The demarcation line between the board face portions that are at different elevations relative to each other are arranged to align with the tab portion of the labels when a sheet is correctly mounted on the board. If possible, it is desirable that the demarcation lines of the elevational differences fall under non-adhesive coated sheet portions but adjacent to the adhesive coated portions of the sheet. When the sheet is on the board correctly and it is depressed decisively at the label, the sheet is bent abruptly over the point of elevational difference, a ridge as here shown, and the tab or tab portion, which is not adhered, flips up free of the sheet. The tab can then be grasped readily while the label is held depressed. By means of the tab portion, the label is quickly peeled from the sheet and more quickly put on the flight envelope.

After the label is removed from the sheet, a double unit, as shown in FIGS. 8-12, is separated at the perforation. The label is used to identify the seat location of the passenger by sticking it on the flight envelope and the sublabel is stuck to the copy of the passengers ticket retained by the airline agent. This is my invention which I describe in detail below in connection with accompanying drawings illustrating it; the drawings are briefly described as folows:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the board;

FIG. 2 is a partial plan view of a sheet;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a sheet as in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a. reverse view of the sheet fragment in FIG. 3 without any backing material on it;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary edge view of the sheet in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of sheet fragment showing the manner of use;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of manner in which the device is used;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a sheet in which the labels are provided with sub-labels; it is drawn to a larger scale than FIG. 1 but smaller than FIG. 3;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary view of the sheet drawn to about the same scale as FIG. 3;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken on the line 1010 and in the direction of the arrows of FIG. 9;

9 11 is a bottom view of a label as shown in FIG.

FIG. 12 illustrates use of the sheets separate from the boards; it is drawn to a scale between those of FIG. 8 and FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION First referring to FIG. 1, the board .10 is provided with a frame portion that can be opened up to receive the sheet. One convenient way of doing this is to have the four frame sides 11 hinged to the back or base as at 12. One of the sides is shown hinged back which reveals the spring hinges 12 that are arranged to hold the frame sides either closed under tension or open. This type of hinge is known and further description is not necessary.

The differences in elevation may be made in any suitable manner as by using the ridges 14 which are easily with surface elevation differences by using lengths of wire or thin wood and sheet 15 secured by the adhesive 21.

While the board and sheet are shown with six ridges and matching rows of labels respectively, all of the ridges need not be used each time the board is placed in use. For example, a first class reservation sheet will have only two seats on each side of the aisle. There will be only four rows of labels in that case. In tourist class, as shown, there are three seats on each side of the aisle, and all of the elevational differences are in use. In present airline use, therefore, the form of the invention shown is the preferred form.

FIG. 8 shows at 30 one of several sheets for use with very large aircraft such as the 747, popularly known as the Jumbo Jet. The sheets for the larger craft are the same size as the sheets shown in FIGS. 2-7 and may be used on the same board as shown in FIG. 1. The larger the craft, the more sheets that must be used, obviously, and they are arranged to handle different portions of the aircraft. The rows of label 31 and 32 are printed only and not die cut. The purpose in having rows 31 and 3 2 is to show passengers who might choose seats from rows 34 and 35 (which are die cut) that those seats in the aircraft are part of a group of four seats. Die cut rows 36 and 37 along with the die cut rows 3-4 and 35 are positioned on the sheet so that the tab portions of the labels are over one of the ridges 14 on board 10' just as in the earlier described sheet.

In FIG. 9, the labels 38 can be seen to be divided by a perforation line 3 9. On one side of the line is a bold face printed seat assignment label 40. On the other side of the line 39 is a small duplicate sub-label 41. These double labels, as shown in FIG. 11, are adhesive coated at the center portion 42 leaving each end free of adhesive. The tab portion of the label is left free of adhesive so it will pop up, the sub-label is left free of adhesive mainly as a matter of printing and cutting tolerance. These double labels, as shown in FIG. 11, may be thought of as having made. In our present technology, the board is conventionally made by any of several well known moulding or other forming process. The difference in elevation, in this case the ridges, should be on the order of one-sixteenth of an inch at least to insure consistent and quick functioning. The difference in elevation certainly need not be more than three-sixteenths of an inch.

What is probably more important than any exact amount of elevational difference is the positioning of the demarcation line between portions of the board that are at different elevation, in this case for example, the ridges 14, under the tabs 16 and preferably as near to the main label position 17 as possible. The desirability of being near the main label 17 should not lead one to getting the demarcation line actually under the adhesive coated portion of the sheet, however. In practice it is necessary to allow some tolerance to allow for the lack of precision in printing and die cutting the paper. The sheets are printed up in advance of use with the heading 18 and flight designation 19 as well as the labels. For any given flight, the number of labels printed and cut equals the number of seats available, of course.

The sheet 15 itself is provided with a backing member 20 (FIG. 5) to which the adhesive 21 (FIG. 4) will adhere but from which it will also release readily. Pattern adhesive 21 is applied to the sheet to align with the main label portions 17. The bare strips 22, therefore, lie under the portion of the label that is die cut to form tabs 16. The entire sheet 15 is of such a size that it will fit nicely within the frame members 11 of the board 10. Frame members 11 will hold the sheet firmly in place when the frame members are hinged down onto the sheet 15. If the spring hinges should become weak, some of the backing material 20 may be peeled from the margins of sheet 15 to allow the sheet 15 to be held securely in place by the adhesive 21. This technique could also be used in an emergency situation if a board with appropriate ridges but no frame were available. Or any board could be rigged a tab portion at each end. Perforation line 39 falls within the coated area 42 so that each of the labels 40 and sublabel 41 has adhesive on it.

To explain more fully the printing and cutting tolerance referred to in lines 11-13 above, it should be noted that as shown at 43 in FIG. 9, there are some labels and sub-labels that have a common dividing line. While it would be acceptable to have adhesive on all of the sublabel, it is not acceptable to have any adhesive on the tab portion of a label. To make sure that tab portions of labels, it is not acceptable to have any adhesive on the them, the band of non-adhesive is made wide enough to include the end of the sub-label. This omission of adhesive from both ends of a combined label and sub-label is seen clearly in FIG. 10.

While these sheets are intended for use with the dispensing board, it is possible to use them without the board. FIG. 12 shows a hand 46 holding the sheet with a finger 47 acting as a ridge. Thumb 48 holds down the balance of the sheet. The other hand 49 is used to depress the sheet on the other side of the ridge, finger 47, to cause the label end to pop free from the sheet. It should be noted that because of the tolerance factor of not coating a part of the sub-label with adhesive, it is possible to pop either end of the combined label from the sheet.

Although the double label has been described in connection-with very large aircraft use, it is clear that it is equally possible to provide a double label form in a size of sheet shown in FIGS. 2-7.

OPERATION To place the dispensing system in use at the gate of an aircraft departure, the sides 11 of board 10 are hinged open to receive the sheet 15. Once the sheet is properly located on the board, the sides are closed to hold sheet 15 securely. As passengers come to the gate and present tickets, they are asked to indicate what seat of those remaining on the board they prefer. When a choice of seat is made, the airline gate personnel depresses the label for that seat with a finger as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. As the label is depressed, its tab is flipped up free of the main sheet. The tab is then easily grasped and the label peeled from the backing sheet. It is then a simple matter to stick the label onto the air travel envelope of the passenger.

A sheet of the type shown in FIGS. 8-12 is used in very much the same way as that shown in FIGS. 2-7. After the combined label and sub-label is removed from the backing sheet, sub-label 41 is separated from label 40 by tearing along the perforated line 39. While the label is stuck to the passengers flight envelope, the sub-label is stuck to the copy of the passengers ticket retained by the airline agent. In this way the airline agent has positive information about the seat assignments that have been made. He can forward this information to the intermediate stops for the particular flight which will avoid the reassignment of a seat already assigned.

While this invention was conceived to solve seat assignment problems of air craft, it is clear that it can be employed in many other ways. As an example, this type of pressure sensitive label is used often for personal identification at conventions and other similar gatherings. At these functions, long lines of people waiting to be registered often accumulate. This dispenser invention could speed things up considerably. The double label sub-label unit could also be used to advantage in those situations where space is being reserved as at a meeting, dinner or the like. Here again the possibility of dual assignment of space could be avoided.

Below I define my invention in claims as required by law.

I claim:

1. A pressure sensitive adhesive label dispensing device comprising:

(A) a laminated label sheet having:

(1) A label portion that is both printed and die cut to form labels having tabs; said label portion being pattern coated with adhesive to provide adhesive at least under the labels except for the tabs formed on them;

(2) a backing sheet portion to which the pressure sensitive adhesive adheres but from which it may be peeled;

(B) a board to receive said label sheet; said board having differences in elevation on its sheet receiving surface which result in demarcation lines between the areas of elevational difference, and

(C) means for securing said label sheet to said board with said adhesive coated portions of a label entirely on one side of one of said demarcation lines and at least most of the label tab on the other side of the said demarcation line.

2. The device of claim 1 in which said elevational differences are ridges formed on said board.

3. The device of claim 2 in which said ridges are in the range of to inch.

4. The device of claim 1 in which said means for securing the sheet to said frame board is a spring hinged frame on said board.

5. The device of claim 1 in which said means for securing the sheet to the board is pressure sensitive adhesive on said sheet outside the areas printed and die cut into said labels.

6. The device of claim 1 in which the elevational differences on said board sheet receiving surface are on the order of or in the range of M to A inch.

7. The combination of claim 1 in which said labels are perforated to form labels and sub-labels; said labels and sub labels having corresponding indioa printed on them; said perforation extending through said adhesive coated portion; whereby both said label and sub-label have adhesive on them.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,754,994 7/1956 Cole 156-584 X 3,190,785 6/1965 Comet 156-230 X WILLIAM A. POWELL, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

